a couple of points including this one:
1. I don't understand this "until a contract is signed" crap. Gronk is under contract for the next TWO seasons. Any c0ntract ADJUSTMENTS are simply the Pats adding more incentives to his existing contract like they did last year. If you are waiting with baited breath for THIS non-story to happen, then you are wasting your time.
2. I think all the "will Gronk be traded?" story stems from the RUMORS that Gronk was on the block during the run up to the draft. That was ANOTHER piece of pure speculation that eventually started to be reported as fact. The fact is that Pats COULDN'T offer Gronk in a trade at that time because at THAT time Gronk didn't know if he would be playing in 2018. What team is going to trade for a player when they aren't sure they will be playing?. Not even the Jets are that stupid. It was well over a month AFTER the draft that Gronk finally committed to playing this year
3. I don't begrudge the mediots the right to SPECULATE, to try and play connect the dots with stories, especially in the offseason. Where I get pissed off is when that pure speculation starts to be passed off as fact in order to justify a narrative.
4. What they have done is take the fact that over the years BB has traded big names during TC. To that, they mix in the speculation that BB is pissed at Gronk because he dared to contemplate retiring this offseason. So when you add all that to the pure speculation ab0ut a Gronk trade before the draft that is now being reported as fact; then you can see the basis of Bedard's speculative article.
I am a member of BSJ and overall have been very happy with my investment. Happy enough to recommend it. I don't agree with every posting (like the recent Gronk one), but it wouldn't be fair or even entertaining if they agreed with everything I did.
Bedard wrote a perfectly valid offseason "what if" article. If others choose to create a narrative that purports to treat it as if it was a likely reality for their own purposes, then you can't blame original author (even though I did write a negative comment)